How's the Water?

"Oh, hey!" a neighbor greeted us as we signed in the pool this afternoon. "Done with your training already?"

I didn't have to look at my watch to answer. "It's 5 o"clock!" I laughed. "Yes!"

She turned to the other woman she had been chatting with while their children played together. "They're both teachers," she informed her, and suddenly it felt like all eyes were on us.

"How has it been going?" she asked.

I scanned the pool, reading the room, so to speak. "Great!" I answered with a little fist pump.

She raised her eyebrows skeptically. "Really?"

"Yep," I said. "We have a lot of great resources and the time to plan and figure things out. We are going to be ready to go when school starts."

She looked doubtful.

I looked at the sparkling pool water.

Then I waved, ready to set my stuff down and dive in.

Onward!

We should make all our meetings virtual! seemed to be the consensus this morning when we finished the first part of our all-day agenda an hour early. And it was nice to go out for a walk around the neighborhood at lunch and not worry about finishing the last of our meal even as the afternoon session got started. The chat feature on our virtual meeting platform turned out to be another blessing-- it was way better for questions, concerns, comments, and even jokes than any stack of post-it notes and a chart paper "parking lot" ever was or could hope to be. Plus, texting took the place of all those whispered side conversations and snarky asides.

BUT...

There were lots of people we never saw or heard from at all, and 5 hours sitting at the dining room table in front of a screen was uncomfortable. It was also hard to stay focused and engaged, especially when my camera was off and the kitchen was eight feet away.

My take away from today? Distance learning is going to be challenging for reasons I haven't really been considering, but there are going to be good things about it, too. 

A Doolittle Project

A friend of ours is working on her dissertation. She is getting close to finishing, and so to keep herself motivated, she is developing a list of things she's going to do as soon as it is signed, sealed, and defended. One of her favorite things to dream about is making a communication board for her dog, in the style of speech pathologist Christina Hunger who created just such a device for her own dog, Stella.

According to Hunger, Stella knows many words and is even demonstrating some pragmatic language skills by the way she selects and organizes the words. Some of the words are even qualitative, allowing Stella to express her opinion about the things she likes and loves and those she doesn't.

Even though I agree with our friend that it is every pet owner's dream to be able to know definitively what their animal is thinking, is it really necessary? Because really, don't we all think we know already? Who doesn't talk for their pets? To be honest, though, part of our understanding is because our pets are really good at communicating. Just today, when Lucy and I were on a long, hot walk, she pulled me insistently over to a car and stared longingly at the back door, as if to say Why don't we just drive home from here?

And when we talk about teaching our cats to use a communication board? Well, for Tibby anyway, there better be a cuss word or two, so she can tell us how she really feels.

I Miss People

A few days ago we received a text from an old friend of Heidi's:

Are you are around this weekend? We sold our house at the lake and we have to go up to pack. DB would like to visit with you. Although she has not been on formal quarantine, her activities have been limited to TikTok in her room and running outside.

DB is Heidi's 16-year-old goddaughter, and every August, we usually spend a week with her and her older sister. Her style of quarantine sounded pretty safe to us, and, so on the last weekend of our summer break, we were thrilled to at last have a real, traditional, summer activity to break up our days.

And the last 24 hours have been a pleasant diversion of cooking and eating and watching Netflix, walking the dog, swimming, painting rocks and solving our most recent murder box.

All the things we've been doing anyway, but with a fresh perspective and another voice. What a difference it makes.

A New Spin

I recently did a little research to find out why in the world military air traffic, especially helicopters, has increased so much lately in the air space directly over my house. The racket was driving me crazy and making me a little paranoid.

I found a perfectly plausible explanation which claimed that in the dramatic decline of commercial air traffic due to the pandemic, many agencies and branches of the service have opted to take advantage of the space to schedule more training. Still! As relieved as I was that it wasn't the beginning of some pre-coupe activity in advance of the election, those choppers are low and really loud, and they circle several times a day.

Finally, in an effort to turn my irritation into a plus, I decided that whenever I hear one of those cursed contraptions I will send a blessing to the universe.

May we all have the time to refine our skills and the patience to find whatever we are searching for.

But it's still tempting to add, Now go away you f-ing helicopters!

Namesake

"I think I'm going to watch the Republican Convention next week," my friend Lincoln told me today. "I don't agree with them, but I just want to see what they're going to say," he continued.

I was impressed, both by his curiosity and his open mind.

Especially since Lincoln's eight.

Change of Seasons

The weather here has taken a rare and most pleasant turn for August-- highs in the low 80s and hardly any humidity at all. The water in the pool is almost cold. Almost. But a few brisk laps will warm a swimmer up nicely. This evening we were on our way home from the pool when we ran into a neighbor and her 8 month old. Babies love Heidi, so as the little one giggled and cooed in his stroller, his mom and I caught up. "Well," she sighed after a little while, "I better get inside and check on my bread." She raised her eyebrows. "It's my first time making homemade. I've got to see how it's rising."

I nodded with complete understanding. "Is it sourdough?" I asked.

"No!" she shrugged. "It's a quick no-knead recipe. But I'm making stew tonight. This weather just makes me think of fall and stew and homemade bread."

Standing there in my wet bathing suit and towel, I found it a little early to pull the trigger on autumn comfort meals, but who am I to judge? Plus? She's from Georgia.